WATERBURY — An 81-year-old Connecticut man charged with using a scarf to strangle a 76-year-old woman in a nursing home has been ruled incompetent to stand trial on a murder charge.
The Republican American reports that a clinical social worker at a state psychiatric hospital told a judge Thursday that John Jensen has been diagnosed with vascular dementia and his cognitive abilities will likely continue to degrade.
A judge granted a request from a public defender to have Jensen civilly committed into the care of the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, where he will likely remain permanently.
Jensen is charged with murder in the November killing of Patricia Ann Way in her room at Autumn Lake Healthcare nursing home on North Main Street.
Nursing home workers told police that Jensen and Way were a couple.
